correspondent for the cbs program 60 minutes,' and fred barnes, national political correspondent for the baltimore sun. barbara walters of abc news, who is appearing in her fourth presidential debate, is our moderator. barbara. >> thank you, dorothy. a few words as we begin tonight's debate about the format. the position of the candidates -- that is, who answers questions first and who gives the last statement -- was determined by a toss of a coin between the two candidates. mr. mondale won, and that means that he chose to give the final closing statement. it means, too, that the president will answer the first question first. i hope that's clear. if it isn't, it will become clear as the debate goes on. further, the candidates will be addressed as they each wanted and will, therefore, be called "mr. president' and "mr. mondale.' since there will also be a second debate between the two presidential candidates, tonight will focus primarily on the economy and other domestic issues. the debate, itself, is built around questions from the panel. in each of its segments, a reporter will ask the candidate